It is certainly well known that pole vaulting has been a standard track and field event for many years. Competitors, using a flexible pole and with the pole in hand, run along a track of a predescribed length and width. At the end of the track the pole is planted in a plant box adjacent two vertical uprights and the forward momentum of the vaulter bends the flexible pole which lifts the vaulter allowing him to vault over a cross bar stretched between the two vertical uprights. Of course, the object is to vault over the cross bar without touching or knocking that cross bar off, but having done so the cross bar must be replaced on cross bar supports which extend from the uprights at predefined levels. Over the years as the vaulting heights have increased to the point that they are now 18' to 19', it of course becomes necessary at times to replace the cross bar at substantial heights.
Patents that I am aware of that describe the uprights used in pole vaulting comprise Medart, U.S. Pat. No. 468,625; Langton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,222,064; and Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,917.
During meets, it is often the case that a high lift type of device is used to lift a person with the cross bar in hand to the appropriate level so the cross bar can be placed back into position on each of the cross bar supports on the two vertical uprights by hand. Thereafter, the person is lowered out of the way and competition can continue. While this method of replacing cross bars is very precise and perhaps preferred during meets, it is not appropriate or economical to use this relatively complicated lifting equipment during practices, and certainly not during the practice of individual competitors which might occur at a wide variety of times throughout any given day or by vaulters practicing alone.
Accordingly, a more informal approach at replacing cross bars at practice sessions is to place one end of the cross bar on a cross bar supports on one of the poles and to thereafter place the still free and yet unsupported end of the cross bar in some device so that it can be raised toward the other cross bar support for that end and then manuevered into place. Cross bars are generally 12' to 18' long, depending upon the width between the uprights, so that one end can easily be placed on one of the cross bar supports by almost any individual jumper or vaulter. The types of devices that have been used, however, have ranged from forming U-shaped or fork like devices from pieces of wood taped to the end of an old pole or by employing broken pieces of cross bars so that the free end could be somehow cradled while being raised vertically.
One recent cross bar handling device is described in Frykholm, U.S. Pat. No. 4,089,553, in which a T-shaped member is secured to a handle. The horizontal portion of the T is formed in the nature of a U-shaped channel. By positioning the T portion at the center of the cross bar, the whole cross bar could be cradled and balanced so that the cross bar could be lifted in a horizontal position with each end being placed on each of the cross bar supports on the uprights almost simultaneously. This device also includes a clamp for more securely holding the cross bar in place during lifting and can be used with both circular and triangular cross-sectioned cross bars.
I am also aware that there are a number of other types of fork or pole lifting devices useful for a wide variety of purposes, such as a laundry fork, described in U.S. Pat. No. 728,938; a curtain pull lifter, U.S. Pat. No. 1,334,649; a tobacco stick handler in U.S. Pat. No. 1,830,690; a boat pole in U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,531 and a bow ram in U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,447. While these devices show either a U-shaped sort of arrangement or apparatus for moving a stick or pole, none of them suggest the same sort of portable type of device as is presently disclosed in this application nor a device that can be removably attached to the pole the vaulter is using to jump with only when needed to replace the cross bar.